Daily Briefing: Friday 1st October

Sony add Bluepoint Games to their PlayStation Studios portfolio

Sony really have been busy with acquisitions of late and this really is a killer buy. Bluepoint Games are best known for their exceptional remasters and ports and, considering the vast majority of them are PlayStation titles, their relationship with Sony goes back far enough to make this feel like a match made in heaven. The studio's last project was the excellent PS5 Demon's Souls remake which launched to critical acclaim last year, and before that was the similarly stellar PS4 remake of Shadow of the Colossus, as well as the Nathan Drake Collection.

• But what makes this acquisition so interesting is that Bluepoint now have bigger ambitions. Speaking in a new interview with IGN, Bluepoint president Marco Thrush confirmed "our next project, we're working on original content right now. We can't talk about what it is, but that's the next step in the evolution for us." Writing about the acquisition on the PlayStation Blog, PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst said "with each of its projects, Bluepoint has raised the bar on console-defining visuals and gameplay, and the studio's vast expertise in world-building and character creation will be a huge plus for future PlayStation Studios properties."

Blake Jorgensen is leaving EA

Jorgensen has been with EA for almost ten years, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. He will begin transitioning away from those roles and their associated responsibilities immediately, with a final departure scheduled for sometime in summer 2022. EA's Chief Studios Officer, Laura Miele, will take over Jorgensen's COO duties as the company launches an internal and external search for its next CFO.

• Miele has a huge amount of experience at EA and seems like a good hire for COO. Confirming her move, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said "Laura successfully led EA Studios with strong strategic and operational discipline, and she will bring that focus and rigour to the entire company as COO." In other appointment news, EA's executive VP of Marketing, Commercial, and Positive Play Chris Bruzzo is now the company's Chief Experience Officer. Wilson says this role is responsible for "leading our efforts to build social ecosystems that forge stronger connections and create amazing player experiences in and around our games."

DICE are already on the warpath against Battlefield 2042 cheaters and the game isn't even out yet

We're still a good bit away from Battlefield 2042's release but developers DICE are already being open about their zero-tolerance policy for cheating and player toxicity. In a blog post published earlier this week, DICE laid out their plans for addressing player behaviour, anti-cheat measures, and recording toxic behaviour. This is all part of EA's wider positive player initiative designed to make online-driven games a generally more pleasant environment to hang out in.

• The list of reportable behaviours in Battlefield 2042 includes abusive text chat, abusive voice chat, cheating/exploitation, gameplay sabotage, harassment, and offensive player names. DICE have outlined that, alongside the standard report functionality, players will also be able to add a comment to their reports. This would allow reporting players a bit of space to add context to their complaints without having to go through external player support channels, which is pretty neat. For cheaters, DICE's zero-tolerance policy means there will be warnings or suspensions, just straight bans. Oof.